A Christmas Playlist: 60s Favorites

What kind of Christmas music is traditional to you? For me, it’s classic voices like Bing Crosby, Frank Siantra, Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald, Andy Williams…the list goes on and on – and all are must-haves for my Christmas playlist needs.

But some of my favorite Christmas tunes I throw in to mix things up come predominantly from the 1960s. While music dedicated to Christmas has been a long-standing tradition for celebrating the holiday (as in since the 13th century), commercial Christmas music is relatively young. Early secular songs, like “Jingle Bells” and “Jolly Old Saint Nicholas”, didn’t become traditional until the early 19th century.

And Christmas albums by mainstream musicians? That wasn’t a thing until the 1960s. I may not be a fan of most modern Christmas albums for a variety of reasons (and I’ll just say it: even Hanson’s Christmas album is a yawn for me these days…), but the original records in this category? They definitely fall into my classic category – the songs I want to hear every year.

Love discovering new music?
Join my email list, and once a month I’ll send you my three favorite new bands you need to know. It’s music that you, as a Good Groupie email subscriber, get access to before anyone else – kinda like a backstage pass to my blog! Sign up now.